Best Options for Family of 4? What vehicle would you recommend?

[ABBus]

How difficult was it for you/spouse to learn driving a 40' bus? I have driven some 15ish passenger busses for church a few times, but a 40' bus is very intimidating to me. I don't doubt I can learn, but with CDL/school bus classes being several thousand dollars, I am not sure how I can get some practice

I kind-of have my CDL (from another country). Take your time, use the mirrors and ANTICIPATE. You'll be good.

 

[BeNimble]

Not the same thing. At all. Being on the road into a car towing a trailer is totally different than traveling in a bus, for the driver as well as for the passenger.

Exactly, it is NOT the same, it is much much safer, less expensive, and more flexible.

 

[ABBus]

I disagree. But hey, no big deal. I totally understand some people may not be comfortable driving large vehicles.

 

[s2mikon]

How difficult was it for you/spouse to learn driving a 40' bus? I have driven some 15ish passenger busses for church a few times, but a 40' bus is very intimidating to me. I don't doubt I can learn, but with CDL/school bus classes being several thousand dollars, I am not sure how I can get some practice

The 40 foot buses look very intimidating at first until you start to think about it. First the 40 foot bus is the same width as a 25 foot bus. The 15 passenger church bus was probably 8 foot wide too. What you have to learn is that it is just longer and you have to wait to start your turn so you don’t scrape everything off the sidewalk. Signs, traffic lights, benches and street lights. If you look at a lot of school buses the right side almost always has curb and sign rash. Also sitting in front of the axle changes your perspective. You have to know where your rear tires are at all times. You also have to know where the rear bumper is on turns too. Our local school district here was offering free CDL school to perspective drivers. Check your local district to see. Practice on their equipment and kids. If you think about it most inner city transit buses are over 8 foot wide and go through some tight streets, and have the battle scars to prove it. As far as teaching the wife to drive...

 

[Pep415]

Family of 4 in a short bus

Me,my wife, and two kids (ages2 &4) have a 5 window short bus. We have pods/bunk beds for the kids, bathroom with toilet and we coul fit a shower but decided not to, full kitchen, couch that converts into a bed, and two seats with seatbelts for the kids car seats. It took us a long time to come up with a floor plan that worked for us but we couldn't be happier. We couldn't find many ideas for families converting short buses. I'm more than happy to show you guys photos, floorplan, etc. We love our little bus and how easy it is to stop and park anywhere. We built it so that the back door is accessible so it feels spacious and we use the sink faucet as an outdoor shower when we go to the beach. I would totally recommend a short bus. Also keep in mind that the tires and repairs are a lot cheaper than bigger buses. You can see photos and videos in my wife's instagram https://instagram.com/chachoncotton?igshid=1wqdrg1mt6g1s

 

[rgjarrell]

32 ft class c RV is a perfect size for us with four. But we have 6 now.

So I'd think a midsize bus (8 window handicapped door) would work. But I'd suggest an 11 window classic style. It's super plentiful and cheaper to obtain. Use the extra length instead of having any underneath storage.

 

[rgjarrell]

If you're afraid of a big vehicle just drive a prius and stay in a hotel. Fly on airplanes for a long trip.

Live in a 300 sq ft apartment in a bad neighborhood.

But if you want to build an RV out of a bus, you'll want more size regardless of how you'll use it.

Rent a class A motorhome or practice by pretending to be interested in driving the school bus or just do it. You'll figure it out.

This next statement is going to be controversial:. Do you think truck drivers and school and municipal bus drivers have a secret super skill?

Have you met a school bus driver? They're definitely a variety of people. But c'mon man. There are millions of people driving these vehicles.

 

[Bluthebus00]

I've always had my heart set on a Short School Bus, but I'm looking now at some mid size busses as well. Those of you with experience what vehicle would you recommend for a family of 4 with young children? I'd like to mostly use if for traveling, but eventually spend a year living on the bus. We don't want anything too big and are willing to sacrifice space for a smaller vehicle if it can fit our needs.

Are there other vehicles that can travel all over and fit a family of 4 that you'd recommend? My biggest things I want are a bathroom, kitchen, couches that also can be beds, and a serving window somewhere on the bus. We cook a lot of meals and when we travel places with beautiful outdoor views I'd like a serving window (similar to a food truck) to be able to give people food for meals when possible.

We have a 26' old transit/shuttle bus for our young family of 4. it's wonderful.
That said, we're only using ours as an RV during camping seasons and aren't living in it full-time.

I attached the sketchup render of our bus. I have to remember to take new pictures of the interior the next time we take the RV cover off.

My blind advice(didn't read all the posts yet) is to open up a free Sketchup account and get to drawing a floorplan to scale and figure out the size buy you'd need. It helps take the guess work out when sizing buses.

We knew what we wanted in our bus and built a generic floor plan that was 20' long by 8' wide. Once we found out bus, we just had to make slight modifications to the render/plans to fit the bus we selected. Once that was done, everything slid into place and the floorplan fit like a glove!